Mr Miloš Nenezić at the COPRES meeting in Prague

This year’s second meeting of the presidents of the 40 member federations of BusinessEurope was held from 2 to 3 June 2022 in Prague, taken into consideration that the Czech Republic will take over the presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2022. The meeting of the Council of Presidents of BusinessEurope (COPRES) was chaired by the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, and the Serbian Association of Employers (SAE) was represented by President, Mr Miloš Nenezić.

During the two-day talks, COPRES members discussed current opportunities and their effect on the company’s operations. Two roundtables were held, and two strands of work were underlined requiring priority attention during the future Czech Presidency, with one roundtable focusing on Rising prices and inflation: impact on enterprises and wages, while the second focused on Industrial competitiveness in a new world order were also reviewed.

The gathering of member federations of BusinessEurope was greeted by the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Mr Petr Fiala, who in his presentation also briefly commented on current events. A separate meeting was held in Parliament with the Minister of Industry and Trade, Mr Jozef Síkela.

At the level of BusinessEurope itself, COPRES members have made two important decisions. Namely, within the regular internal procedures, the change of the President was voted, which will take place on July 1, 2022, when Mr Fredrik Persson will become the head of this organization. Mr Persson, who was until recently the President of the Confederation of Swedish Companies and a member of COPRES, and has held the position of Vice President of BusinessEurope since 2020.

Amendments to the BusinessEurope Statute were also adopted as a result of Brexit. Namely, with the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from membership in the European Union, the need arose to redefine the membership of the employers’ organization of this country (CBI). For this purpose, a new category of membership has been added, for former full members who are from countries that are no longer members of the European Union. Based on this amendment to the Statute and the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, the CBI will have the status of an affiliated member from next year.